Today it was raining and though that is quite common in this country, it is now something that I as a Cllr for Toothill and Westlea have to take into consideration. Climate change appears to have brought some issues with it.

Whitehill Stream, which collects water from all over the Western part of Swindon spills out into a stream at the rear of Moresby and Benwell close it then runs down into a Flood Storage Area (FSA) at the back of the Renault Building and butts up against the embankment of the old railway line.


The railway line above is now a footpath and runs between Mannington, where the old Moredon Power Station was, crossing the road by the River Ray and the old canal, which now passes under the road. On it’s way towards Moulden Hill.



All this water passes through the culvert under the railway banking and the engineers who built it seem to have been able to forecast the amount of water it can take. Thames water has built a culvert and a spillway for the FSA to empty into this old railway culvert.



The area is nice for a peaceful walk in and the walk along the old railway line is very quiet though occasionally disturb by some little ******** sorry mothers little darling on their mini moto cycle. What does surprise me though is that when this stream is in full flood the railway engineer’s foresight some 100 odd years ago built it so that can just about cope with climate change.

You want to take a walk over there and visit this area the walk/cycleride into Moulden hill and on into the Cotswold Water park, passed the Swindon and Cricklade railway is very enjoyable.